In situations where multiple logical networks share a common communication medium or channel, the networks may compete for access to the channel (i.e., they compete for bandwidth). In the absence of any coordination between the networks, they can destructively interfere with one another, reducing capacity utilization and the bandwidth (BW) available to stations within any network.
The scenario described above arises when neighboring homes in a residential neighborhoods or apartments deploy local area networks within their individual dwellings. Often the networks share the channel, as is the case in wireless and in powerline networks. This scenario requires a method to allow interfering networks to coordinate with one another.
The coordination problem may be solved by contention access protocols that are employed by all interfering stations within multiple networks sharing a medium. Contention access protocols have been shown to be inefficient in providing QoS guarantees to AV and streaming applications which are increasingly popular.
In some cases, a central controller arbitrates among the multiple networks in deciding how the total available BW is apportioned. This centralized decision making scheme can cause large delays and incur heavy messaging overhead as the number of neighboring networks grows.